12 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1631. 



river was held up to De-Vries, as a point at which 2^ whale fishery 

 could be profitably established, as Godjn represented, that there 

 were many ivhales which kept before the bay, and the oil at 60 

 guilders a hogshead, he thought, would realize a good profit.* 

 DeVries declining to accept a subordinate position in connection 

 with the colony, he was at once admitted, on perfect equality, 

 into a company of Patroons^ who associated themselves together 

 on the 16th of October, 1630. Besides Godyn, Bloemart 

 and DeVries, the members composing this Patroonship were 

 Killian Van Renssellaer, Jan DeLaet, Matthys Van Keulen, 

 Nicholas Van Sittorigh, Harnick Koeck and Heyndrick Hamel, 

 being all directors of the West India Company except DeVries. 

 All of the expected advantages were to be equalized; and DeVries 

 who had charge of the establishment of the colony, dispatched 

 from the Texel on the 12th of December, 1630, a ship and a 

 yacht for the South river, "• with a number of people, and a large 

 stock of cattle," the object being, "as well to carry on a whale 

 fishery in that region, as to plant a colony for the cultivation of 

 all sorts of grain, for which the country is very well adapted, 

 and of tobacco."^ 



De Vries did not accompany this expedition as has been sup- 

 posed by most writers on the subject, but on the 20th of the 

 month he learned that the yacht had been " taken by the Dun- 

 kirkers" before leaving the Texel, owing to the carelessness of 

 the large ship which had sailed after the yacht. The large ship 

 which was commanded by a Captain Peter Heyes of Edam, pro- 

 ceeded on the voyage alone, but failing in an important object 

 of it, " the disembarking of a lot of people at Tortugas," returned 

 to Holland in September 1631. The ship conveyed the colony 

 to the " South river in New Netherland," but was unsuccessful 

 in the whale fishery, the captain alleging, "that he arrived 

 there too late in the year," though he brought home a sample of 

 oil "from a dead whale found on the shore." 



" Swanendael" (Valley of Swans,) was the name given to the 

 tract of land purchased for the accommodation of the Colony, 

 and had its greatest length parallel with the shore of the bay. 

 The date of the arrival of Captain Heyes, with his colonists is 

 not known ; but allowing the usual time occupied in making a 

 passage, from the 12th of December, 1630, it may be arrived 

 at with sufficient accuracy. On the 5th of May following. Skip- 

 per Heyes, (Heysen) and Gillis Hosset, Commissary of the ship 

 Walrus, for that appears to have been the name of the ship that 

 brought out the colony, purchased of the Indians, " the rightful 

 owners," a tract of land sixteen English miles square at Cape 

 May, and extending sixteen miles on the bay. This purchase 



1 De Vries in N. Y. Hist. Col. iii. N. S. 16, 17. " lb. 16. 



